Understanding College Costs

Of the many factors affecting the college selection process, the cost of attendance can be one of the most influential for families. While a school may be a good academic or social fit for your child, it should also be a good financial fit for your family. You and your child should discuss and formulate plans for financing his or her college education early on. Ideally, this should be done before creating your child’s college list because it may impact the types of schools to which he or she applies and the college he or she ultimately attends.

The real cost of college is sometimes hard to determine, especially considering fees and other hidden costs such as transportation, books, and participating in social activities on and off campus. Families should estimate what a year of college tuition at a given school will cost and then add 10 percent to cover any unexpected costs associated with college attendance, as well as inflation and tuition increases. Families should also budget for the costs of actually applying to college, which ApplyWise has calculated to cost $3,500 on average, including standardized test fees, test prep, application fees, and college visits.

Financial aid resources are available to help students finance their education. Start researching the financial aid options at the schools your child may be considering. While financial aid can be confusing for many families, understanding it will help you and your child determine which school is the right fit. Research the financial aid statistics of potential schools, including average award and percentage of students receiving aid. This information can usually be found on the financial aid section of the colleges’ websites. You can also visit www.finaid.org to utilize a free Expected Family Contribution Calculator to estimate how much financial aid you can expect to receive.

While the cost of college can seem high, remember that college is a long-term investment that will pay off for the rest of your life.

Once you have determined your financial resources and the potential costs of attending the schools you and your child are considering, be sure to also include one to two financial safety schools on your child’s college list. These are schools that are good academic and social fits, to which he or she is likely to be admitted, that your family can afford without financial aid consideration. Oftentimes, these will be in-state schools or community colleges. However, don’t rule a school out just because its tuition exceeds your budget. Generally, colleges with higher tuitions have greater financial aid resources, meaning that a student has a greater chance of receiving more financial aid and alleviating some tuition costs.

During the application process, it’s important to know whether your student’s colleges of choice factor financial aid into the admissions process. University admission policies fall into one of two categories: need-blind and need-sensitive. If a university has a need-blind admissions policy, it means that they do not take a student’s ability to pay full tuition into account when determining admission. All of the Ivy League schools are examples of need-blind colleges. These schools open the door for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds to be accepted. Note that just because a student is admitted without consideration of ability to pay, the student is still responsible for covering the cost of tuition. However, there are more than fifty schools around the country—including Davidson College, Boston College, and many others—that pledge to meet a student’s demonstrated need. This means that the university will bridge the gap between your family’s ability to contribute and the total cost of attendance through grants, loans, or work-study aid. Need-sensitive universities do factor a student’s ability to pay into determining whether or not the student is admitted to the university. At these universities, being able to afford tuition without any assistance may increase your chances of admission.

While the cost of college can seem high, remember that college is a long-term investment that will pay off for the rest of your life. Over the course of a lifetime, college grads will earn about half a million dollars more than those without a four-year college degree. In addition to academic enrichment, students can develop their social and professional networks in college. The most expensive private school, however, is not necessarily the best choice for everyone. Be sure to have a well-balanced college list with some financial safety schools, and remember that there are financial aid resources, scholarships, and payment plans that make attending college an attainable reality for everyone.